研究证实全球变暖加速物种入侵

<正>近百年来,外来入侵昆虫在全球范围内的定居速度逐步加快。这种趋势虽然与日益增长的国际贸易导致的物种引入密切相关,但与环境变化的相关性被关注不够。为了更好地了解和控制生物入侵,阐明全球变暖与入侵物种定居速度变化的关系就非常重要,尤其是昆虫等变温入侵动物。中国科学院动物研究所张润志研究员领导的外来物种鉴定与控制研究组发现1900—2005年中国大陆入侵昆虫定居速度与气温升高呈显著相关性。通过对英国和     

外来种入侵的生物学与生态学基础的若干问题

外来物种的入侵及其所造成的危害已越来越为人们所认识。一个外来物种入侵一个新的生境无疑要具备一定的条件 ,尽管目前对这种条件的研究还只是初步的。首先从其自身来说 ,需要有足够的入侵性 ,这可以认为是入侵种的生物学基础 ,可能表现为具有多倍性、一定的遗传变异、杂合性或表型可塑性 ,以及不同的交配系统等 ;其次一个物种的入侵成功还取决于入侵生境的可入侵性 ,这可以认为是入侵种的生态学基础 ,而新的种间关系的形成 ,尤其是入侵种与其他种类的互惠共生关系的建成是关键。本文主要介绍了有关入侵种的生物学和生态学基础中的一些最新进展 ,希望有助于我国学者对相关研究内容的开展以及对有害外来种入侵的防治     

水盾草入侵机制及防治对策

生物入侵是当今世界难题之一,成为维护生物安全和生态安全的共同挑战。水盾草作为一种流行的观赏水草,原分布于美洲中部,伴随人类商业、运输等活动迁移到世界各地,现已成功入侵了亚洲、欧洲和大洋洲等地区,也在我国长三角地区广泛分布。本文介绍了水盾草的生态习性、危害、入侵成因、防治与管理等方面,从生物学特征和生境分析其入侵机制。由于很强的繁殖扩散能力和对新环境的适应能力等特性,水盾草一旦定居,即迅速生长,争夺本地物种的生存空间和资源,对入侵区域的环境、生物、经济产生负面影响。适宜的气候条件、空生态位资源是水盾草入侵的外部环境因素。目前,多种物理、化学和生物控制方法用于管理水盾草,但治理效果不一,需要综合使用多种手段,重复干预以达到管控的目的。为防止水盾草在我国大面积泛滥,亟需开展基础研究,科学预测;针对可能入侵水域,研究提出早期发现和快速响应的综合管理措施,科学治理和管理水盾草。     

旱雀麦(Bromus tectorum L.)入侵机制的研究进展

旱雀麦(Bromus tectorum)在世界上广泛分布,但在北美却是一种入侵能力较强的物种,对当地的植物群落结构组成和生态系统功能产生重要影响.本文从旱雀麦的生境和扩散路径、本身的生物学特性、其与新栖息地土著物种之间的相互作用、新栖息地的环境变化对旱雀麦的影响等方面综述了近年来关于旱雀麦入侵机制的研究进展.研究表明,影响旱雀麦入侵的因素是多样的,阐明旱雀麦的入侵机制对于推动生态学的理论发展和控制旱雀麦的大规模入侵具有重要意义.     

天然杂交与遗传渐渗对植物入侵性的影响

生物入侵给全球生态环境与社会经济都带来了严重危害, 对其入侵机制的研究非常重要。生物入侵是一个适应性进化的过程, 天然杂交与遗传渐渗可以改变外来物种对环境的适应性并提高其入侵能力, 使其进化成为入侵种。因此了解杂交-渐渗在促进生物入侵过程中的遗传作用, 将有助于我们采取有效措施来控制生物入侵及其危害。本文从杂交-渐渗对生物适应性进化和物种形成影响的角度, 阐明外来种如何通过杂交-渐渗在新的生境中改变其适应性、生存竞争能力和入侵能力。杂交-渐渗可以导致物种发生多倍体水平和同倍体水平的进化, 虽然二者的进化过程不尽相同, 但均能使杂种群体在遗传上产生较大变化, 进而影响杂种群体的适合度, 这一过程可能促使外来种在新的生境中的成功入侵进而转变为入侵种。随着转基因生物技术的迅速发展, 大量转基因作物进入环境释放和商品化种植, 具有特定功能的转基因可能通过杂交-渐渗进入野生近缘种群体, 也可能使之成为入侵性强的农田杂草, 带来难以预测的生态后果。总之, 生物入侵是一个复杂的进化和生态过程, 利用杂交-渐渗的理论来解释植物的入侵性, 仅从一个方面反映了入侵生物学的研究, 杂交-渐渗与其他理论的结合, 将从更深的层次来解释外来种的入侵机制。     

干扰强度对群落中紫茎泽兰种子萌发、幼苗定居和生长的影响

干扰与外来植物入侵密切相关,种子萌发和幼苗定居是植物生活史中最脆弱、也是外来植物入侵最关键的阶段.为研究干扰在恶性外来入侵植物紫茎泽兰成功入侵过程中的作用,采用人工牧草群落代替自然群落,人为干扰(去除不同面积的牧草)模拟自然干扰的方式,研究了紫茎泽兰入侵初期种子萌发、幼苗定居和生长对不同干扰强度的响应与适应.结果表明:...     

基于功能性状多维性理解外来物种入侵的达尔文归化难题

达尔文归化难题是进行外来物种入侵预测的重要理论依据,然而,达尔文归化假说和预适应假说却预测了2种截然不同的结果。事实上,达尔文归化难题争论的焦点是物种间的差异性还是相似性促进了外来物种的成功入侵,究其原因可能是忽略了功能性状的多维性。所谓功能性状的多维性,就是不同的功能性状可能代表着不同的生态功能轴,外来物种的入侵是多个维度上不同生态过程的综合结果。本研究以现代物种共存理论为基础,构建了一个基于环境过滤和适合度差异2个维度的入侵预测模型框架,不同维度对应着不同的功能性状以及不同的种间相似性关系。该预测模型表明,在环境过滤维度上与本地物种性状趋同,同时,在适合度维度上与本地物种性状趋异的外来物种是潜在的入侵物种,而其危害程度主要取决于本地群落的构建过程。该模型框架可为外来物种入侵预警提供理论依据,也可为生物多样性保护、外来物种的防治与管理等提供实践指导。     

MAXENT最大熵模型在预测物种潜在分布范围方面的应用

MAXENT最大熵模型是以最大熵理论为基础的物种地理尺度空间分布模型。该模型自提出之后在国内外迅速得到广泛应用,被越来越多地应用于入侵生物学、保护生物学、全球气候变化对物种分布影响,以及进化生物学等领域的研究。主要从MAXENT模型在入侵生物潜在分布区预测、濒危物种及有经济价值物种的适生区预测,以及全球气候变化对物种分布的影响预测等3个方面,对其应用现状进行综述,分析应用该模型时应该注意的一些问题。     

入侵植物互花米草——生物学、生态学及管理

近20余年来, 互花米草Spartina alterniflora Loisel.在我国沿海及河口滩涂快速扩散, 已成为我国海岸盐沼中最重要的入侵植物。本文介绍了互花米草的形态学、繁殖生物学、生物系统学、分布及全球范围内的入侵途径和历史, 探讨了互花米草与沿海滩涂非生物环境、生物环境之间的相互作用及人类活动在互花米草成功入侵中的作用, 并得出如下结论: 互花米草的成功入侵是在人类活动的影响下, 其入侵力(互花米草自身的生物学特性)与入侵生境的可入侵性(滩涂环境对入侵的抵抗力)相互作用的结果, 其入侵可能对被入侵地的自然环境、生物多样性、生态系统乃至经济生活带来一系列影响。最后, 提出对互花米草的控制只能通过早期预测并保持监控、一旦发现便及时根除的方法来进行。同时,我国应加强立法与相关知识的普及, 最大限度地降低互花米草乃至其他外来生物入侵的可能性。     

提高生态位模型转移能力来模拟入侵物种 的潜在分布

生态位模型利用物种分布点所关联的环境变量去推算物种的生态需求, 模拟物种的分布。在模拟入侵物种分布时, 经典生态位模型包括模型构建于物种本土分布地, 然后将其转移并投射至另一地理区域, 来模拟入侵物种的潜在分布。然而在模型运用时, 出现了模型的转移能力较低、模拟的结果与物种的实际分布不相符的情况, 由此得出了生态位漂移等不恰当的结论。提高生态位模型的转移能力, 可以准确地模拟入侵物种的潜在分布, 为入侵种的风险评估提供参考。作者以入侵种茶翅蝽(Halyomorpha halys)和互花米草(Spartina alterniflora)为例, 从模型的构建材料(即物种分布点和环境变量)入手, 全面阐述提高模型转移能力的策略。在构建模型之前, 需要充分了解入侵物种的生物学特性、种群平衡状态、本土地理分布范围及物种的生物历史地理等方面的知识。在模型构建环节上, 物种分布点不仅要充分覆盖物种的地理分布和生态空间的范围, 同时要降低物种采样点偏差; 环境变量的选择要充分考虑其对物种分布的限制作用、各环境变量之间的空间相关性, 以及不同地理种群间生态空间是否一致, 同时要降低环境变量的空间维度; 模型构建区域要真实地反映物种的地理分布范围, 并考虑种群的平衡状态。作者认为, 在生态位保守的前提下, 如果模型是构建在一个合理方案的基础上, 生态位模型的转移能力是可以保证的, 在以模型转移能力较低的现象来阐述生态位分化时需要引起注意。     

The Biology of Invasions: The Genetic Adaptation Paradox

One of the most relevant topics in the biology of invasion concerns the genetic changes that occur subsequent to a species invasion, an issue of particular focus among conservation biologists. Colonizing a novel environment presents a genetic challenge to invading species because such species surely have not experienced the selective pressures presented by the environment. Here we ask, by what mechanisms and processes do alien species genetically naïve to their new environment, become successful invaders? We attempt to resolve this paradox by considering the interplay between an invader’s ability to modify its new environment, and genetic modifications imposed by the new environment. We postulate that epigenetic adaptations, and adaptive mutations are likely play a role in enhancing invasion success.     

Evolutionary games under incompetence

The adaptation process of a species to a new environment is a significant area of study in biology. As part of natural selection, adaptation is a mutation process which improves survival skills and reproductive functions of species. Here, we investigate this process by combining the idea of incompetence with evolutionary game theory. In the sense of evolution, incompetence and training can be interpreted as a special learning process. With focus on the social side of the problem, we analyze the influence of incompetence on behavior of species. We introduce an incompetence parameter into a learning function in a single-population game and analyze its effect on the outcome of the replicator dynamics. Incompetence can change the outcome of the game and its dynamics, indicating its significance within what are inherently imperfect natural systems.

     

Traits across trophic levels interact to influence parasitoid establishment in biological control releases

A central goal in ecology is to predict what governs a species’ ability to establish in a new environment. One mechanism driving establishment success is individual species’ traits, but the role of trait combinations among interacting species across different trophic levels is less clear. Deliberate or accidental species additions to existing communities provide opportunities to study larger scale patterns of establishment success. Biological control introductions are especially valuable because they contain data on both the successfully established and unestablished species. Here, we used a recent dataset of importation biological control introductions to explore how life‐history traits of 132 parasitoid species and their herbivorous hosts interact to affect parasitoid establishment. We find that of five parasitoid and herbivore traits investigated, one parasitoid trait—host range—weakly predicts parasitoid establishment; parasitoids with higher levels of phylogenetic specialization have higher establishment success, though the effect is marginal. In addition, parasitoids are more likely to establish when their herbivore host has had a shorter residence time. Interestingly, we do not corroborate earlier findings that gregarious parasitoids and endoparasitoids are more likely to establish. Most importantly, we find that life‐history traits of the parasitoid species and their hosts can interact to influence establishment. Specifically, parasitoids with broader host ranges are more likely to establish when the herbivore they have been released to control is also more of a generalist. These results provide insight into how multiple species’ traits and their interactions, both within and across trophic levels, can influence establishment of species of higher trophic levels.     

Innovations: applications of insect transgenesis

The recent establishment of broadly applicable genetic transformation systems will allow the analysis of gene function in diverse insect species. This will increase our understanding of developmental and evolutionary biology. Furthermore, insect transgenesis will provide new strategies for insect pest management and methods to impair the transmission of pathogens by human disease vectors. However, these powerful techniques must be applied with great care to avoid harm to our environment.     

Causes and consequences of monodominance in tropical lowland forests

Tropical canopy dominance in lowland, well-drained forests by one plant species is a long-standing conundrum in tropical biology. Research now shows that dominance is not the result of one trait or mechanism. We suggest that the striking dominance of Gilbertiodendron dewevrei in the Ituri Forest of northeastern Congo is the result of a number of traits in adult trees that significantly modify the understory environment, making it difficult for other species to regenerate there. Adults cast deep shade that reduces light levels in the understory of the Gilbertiodendron forest to levels significantly lower than in the mixed-species forest. Moreover, the monodominant forest has deep leaf litter that could inhibit the establishment of small-seeded species, and the leaf litter is slow to decompose, potentially causing the low availability of nitrogen. We expect that juveniles of Gilbertiodendron may have an advantage in this environment over other species. In general, it appears that all tropical monodominant species share a similar suite of traits.     

Taxonomy and biology of the supposedly lestobiotic ant genus Paedalgus (Hym.: Formicidae)

Abstract. The taxonomy and biology of the supposedly lestobiotic ant genus Paedalgus is reviewed. Ten species are recognized, from Sri Lanka and the Afro tropical region, of which six are described here as new: distinctus, octatus, pisinnus, rarus, robertsoni and saritus. The genus is defined and an identification key to species is provided. Evidence for and against a lestobiotic lifeway is discussed and what is known of the biology of the species is reviewed.     

Quantitative cell biology: the essential role of theory

Quantitative biology is a hot area, as evidenced by the recent establishment of institutes, graduate programs, and conferences with that name. But what is quantitative biology? What should it be? And how can it contribute to solving the big questions in biology? The past decade has seen very rapid development of quantitative experimental techniques, especially at the single-molecule and single-cell levels. In this essay, I argue that quantitative biology is much more than just the quantitation of these experimental results. Instead, it should be the application of the scientific method by which measurement is directed toward testing theories. In this view, quantitative biology is the recognition that theory and models play critical roles in biology, as they do in physics and engineering. By tying together experiment and theory, quantitative biology promises a deeper understanding of underlying mechanisms, when the theory works, or to new discoveries, when it does not.     

Cold tolerance of the invasive Carcinus maenas in the east Pacific: molecular mechanisms and implications for range expansion in a changing climate

Physiological studies have long been utilized to understand the role of environmental temperature in the distribution of native organisms within marine communities. For the invasive crab Carcinus maenas, temperature has been implicated as the main predictor of establishment success across temperate regions. Therefore, we determined whether the lower temperature tolerances of this non-native crab would restrict it from spreading farther poleward from a relatively new recipient environment. Cold tolerance capacity was determined in the laboratory by holding crabs sampled from Vancouver Island, British Columbia (BC)—near the present northern limit for the northeast Pacific metapopulation to an overwintering thermal profile generated from Sitka, Alaska, USA. These crabs were physiologically capable of overwintering north of their present range boundary. The cellular response to cold stress was investigated using two functional categories of the cellular stress response. We measured cyclin D1, a cell-cycle regulator, and Hsp70, a protein chaperone, after laboratory acclimation and acute cold stress on two populations of C. maenas from the west coast of North America that have disparate thermal histories (crabs sampled from CA or BC). We found site-specific differential expression of cyclin D1 after cold acclimation and cold shock, perhaps affecting invasion capacity in this species. Determining what physiological mechanisms are in place with respect to thermal tolerance and preference can give insight into what makes an invasive organism successful and aid in predicting probable distribution of such species within a new environment.     

Conservation paleobiology: putting the dead to work

Geohistorical data and analyses are playing an increasingly important role in conservation biology practice and policy. In this review, we discuss examples of how the near-time and deep-time fossil record can be used to understand the ecological and evolutionary responses of species to changes in their environment. We show that beyond providing crucial baseline data, the conservation paleobiology perspective helps us to identify which species will be most vulnerable and what kinds of responses will be most common. We stress that inclusion of geohistorical data in our decision-making process provides a more scientifically robust basis for conservation policies than those dependent on short-term observations alone.     

So what is a species anyway? A primatological perspective

Since Darwin's time, the question “what a species” has provoked fierce disputes and a tremendous number of publications, from short opinion papers to thick volumes. 1 The debates covered fundamental philosophical questions, such as: Do species exist at all independently of a human observer or are they just a construct of the human mind to categorize nature's organismic diversity and serve as a semantic tool in human communication about biodiversity? 2 - 4 or: Are species natural kinds (classes) or individuals that are “born” by speciation, change in course of time, and finally “die” when they go extinct or diverge into new species? 5 - 8 Also included was the problem of species as taxa (taxonomic) versus species as products of the speciation process (evolutionary). 9 More pragmatic issues arose, such as: How can we reliably delineate and delimitate species? 10 , 11 The great interest in what a species is reflects the importance of “species” as fundamental units in most fields of biology, especially evolutionary biology, ecology, and conservation. 2 , 12 - 14